Hi
My dad was diagnosed with AD a few weeks back at the age of 58 by the neurologist, he has been in hospital for over 2 months now going on 3 and has had numerous blood test, scans etc. He has lost about 2 1/2 stone in that time and is now weight under 9 stone and looks like he had been in a prisoner of war camp. He has suffered with depression for the last 4/5 years and after getting a urine infection and urine retention problem became very confused and thats when he was admitted to hospital. The neurologist came the other week gave him a good look over medically speaking and did the memory test etc. He then took family history - my dads mum had AD, his auntie (his mum sister) has it and is Gran had it (his mums mum). I was expecting the AD diagnosis as recently there had been a few thing he did and said that were the same thing my nan did. Mum also had feelings about this and asked our gp who said he was just depressed.
The neurologist said that the depression had hid the AD and that the urine infection had made it come on full blown, as we know from what we went through with nan etc that he is at the later stages. He is unable to wash, dress etc with out help and is unable to eat and drink- we did use to be able to get a few spoonfulls of soup down him now he is only getting the special nutrient drink and moose down him which is a struggle and needs to be reminded to swallow whats in his mouth and keeps moving as he does not know what it is we are trying to get him to drink.
We had been waiting for a psychiatrist to come and see him but following the AD diagnosis from the neurologist were told it was no longer needed. In the end a psychiatrist did come of Friday. She did not spend very long with him under 30 minutes. She the spoke to my mum in private. She told my dad that she though he had AD or dementia which we are unhappy about as all the other doctors and staff have just said confused around him. She then told mum that she could not say for sure if it was AD or dementia due to his age, and how fast it had come on. She went on to ask if my mum had told dad that she would leave him which she had never done - but as when my mum arrive and he saw her, and she asked for mum to leave to speak to him alone he said dont leave me to my mum which he does a lot now since going into hospital and is always asking where she is when she leaves for the night etc. The psychiatrist has now said that he thinks that he has psychotic depression - as he is not eating and drinking! She wants to take him to another hospital to assess him for 6 weeks.
We have spoke to his doctor who says that they will most likely come back after assessment and say it is AD as well. The problem we have with this is it will be very difficult for us to get to this other hospital to see him, also he is already got to the stage where he does not know who I am which is very hard, he stills know my mum at the moment but dont know how long this will last and dont want to lost the time with him at the other hospital while he does still know her as the way he is going dont know if he will know her in 6 weeks as it was only the other week when he knew who I was.
We have been told that this assessment has to be done otherwise we will not get help with his care but they agree 6 weeks is too long. From looking on the internet he does not have any of the symptoms of a psychotic depression, he is and has not been suicidal, had delusions or hallucinations. When the psychiatrist spoke to mum she said he did hear voices and hallucinations which mum explained to her he has never had and after talking to his doctor they said in all the time he has been in there this has never happened, which i think if this was what he had some of the symptoms would have been expressed by now.
I was really angry yesterday as when i went to see dad he was totally out of it and could tell from looking at him he was drugged up to the eyeballs, he was like a zombie. Me and mum talked to the doctor who said that this was the medication the psychiatrist want to put him on, we said that it needs to be reduced by a lot or changed for something else as its not right for time to be like that. But last night they reduced this sleeping tablet not the one that needed to be reduced. Can we do anything about this we think there must be something we can do about it but not sure as its unfair for him to be drugged up like that.
I know from what we went through with nan and all the information on AD that this is what he has and I feel from what has been said that his is mainly due to his age and how quick it has some on but then the neurologist has already explained this.
Sorry for going on so much but needed to go through whats happened, which has made me feel slightly better.
Has anyone else come across this or can you give some ideas of where we can go from here as we fell stuck at the moment. And can we do something about the medication problem.
My dad was diagnosed with AD a few weeks back at the age of 58 by the neurologist, he has been in hospital for over 2 months now going on 3 and has had numerous blood test, scans etc. He has lost about 2 1/2 stone in that time and is now weight under 9 stone and looks like he had been in a prisoner of war camp. He has suffered with depression for the last 4/5 years and after getting a urine infection and urine retention problem became very confused and thats when he was admitted to hospital. The neurologist came the other week gave him a good look over medically speaking and did the memory test etc. He then took family history - my dads mum had AD, his auntie (his mum sister) has it and is Gran had it (his mums mum). I was expecting the AD diagnosis as recently there had been a few thing he did and said that were the same thing my nan did. Mum also had feelings about this and asked our gp who said he was just depressed.
The neurologist said that the depression had hid the AD and that the urine infection had made it come on full blown, as we know from what we went through with nan etc that he is at the later stages. He is unable to wash, dress etc with out help and is unable to eat and drink- we did use to be able to get a few spoonfulls of soup down him now he is only getting the special nutrient drink and moose down him which is a struggle and needs to be reminded to swallow whats in his mouth and keeps moving as he does not know what it is we are trying to get him to drink.
We had been waiting for a psychiatrist to come and see him but following the AD diagnosis from the neurologist were told it was no longer needed. In the end a psychiatrist did come of Friday. She did not spend very long with him under 30 minutes. She the spoke to my mum in private. She told my dad that she though he had AD or dementia which we are unhappy about as all the other doctors and staff have just said confused around him. She then told mum that she could not say for sure if it was AD or dementia due to his age, and how fast it had come on. She went on to ask if my mum had told dad that she would leave him which she had never done - but as when my mum arrive and he saw her, and she asked for mum to leave to speak to him alone he said dont leave me to my mum which he does a lot now since going into hospital and is always asking where she is when she leaves for the night etc. The psychiatrist has now said that he thinks that he has psychotic depression - as he is not eating and drinking! She wants to take him to another hospital to assess him for 6 weeks.
We have spoke to his doctor who says that they will most likely come back after assessment and say it is AD as well. The problem we have with this is it will be very difficult for us to get to this other hospital to see him, also he is already got to the stage where he does not know who I am which is very hard, he stills know my mum at the moment but dont know how long this will last and dont want to lost the time with him at the other hospital while he does still know her as the way he is going dont know if he will know her in 6 weeks as it was only the other week when he knew who I was.
We have been told that this assessment has to be done otherwise we will not get help with his care but they agree 6 weeks is too long. From looking on the internet he does not have any of the symptoms of a psychotic depression, he is and has not been suicidal, had delusions or hallucinations. When the psychiatrist spoke to mum she said he did hear voices and hallucinations which mum explained to her he has never had and after talking to his doctor they said in all the time he has been in there this has never happened, which i think if this was what he had some of the symptoms would have been expressed by now.
I was really angry yesterday as when i went to see dad he was totally out of it and could tell from looking at him he was drugged up to the eyeballs, he was like a zombie. Me and mum talked to the doctor who said that this was the medication the psychiatrist want to put him on, we said that it needs to be reduced by a lot or changed for something else as its not right for time to be like that. But last night they reduced this sleeping tablet not the one that needed to be reduced. Can we do anything about this we think there must be something we can do about it but not sure as its unfair for him to be drugged up like that.
I know from what we went through with nan and all the information on AD that this is what he has and I feel from what has been said that his is mainly due to his age and how quick it has some on but then the neurologist has already explained this.
Sorry for going on so much but needed to go through whats happened, which has made me feel slightly better.
Has anyone else come across this or can you give some ideas of where we can go from here as we fell stuck at the moment. And can we do something about the medication problem.
